Oregon Mascot bill advances

SALEM (AP) — Oregon schools are one step closer to keeping Native American mascots under a bill that cleared the House Education committee Monday.

A statewide ban on school use of Native American symbols or nicknames takes effect in 2017, requiring a number of Oregon schools to change their mascots.

But the House committee approved a bill which would allow school districts to get a tribe’s permission to use symbols or names that are meaningful to that tribe.

The measure would order the state Board of Education to establish rules for such agreements in consultation with tribal representatives — a compromise Gov. John Kitzhaber has said he supports after vetoing an earlier version of the bill last year.

The bill goes next to the full House. It cleared the Senate earlier this month.

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